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I live in a double wide mobile home...would I do it again you bet...In GA the developers and builders do not need to be licenced...I bought a quality home, with steel frame, great floor plan that I was able to modify to suit my needs.
my siding is warrentied for 30 years and my roof is for 20...same stuff as a stick built. Also, around here if something goes wrong with a stick built and you try to contact builders, developers, contractors...they just point fingers...with my MH I make one phone call.
The old ones have a bad rap...you buy a quality new one it will last just as long if not longer than a stick built and most will let you customize the floor plan, pick your colors, fixtures ect.
I plan on buying another one when I move, I pick out the property I want, pick out the home I want, have it put where I want....no dealing with someone else's idea what is good and what is not.
Just make sure if you buy one, you go the extra mile with a good reputable dealer.
I agree MH's have their place, but they are the first structures people here are told to evacuate during severe thunderstorm warnings, and of course, during tornado warnings. I personally could not sleep a wink knowing that I was living in such a vulnerable structure. They have indeed improved them, but there is no comparison to a truly well-built solid structure built on a solid foundation.
I agree here. I could get a mobile home but ive decided id rather just move out of Florida and to a city where house prices are inexpensive. The location will be less desirable but ill take a huge luxury house with basement anyday in location B over a mobile home in location A.
For those who cant relocate, a mobile home is their option to owning something which is better than renting. If you can relocate to where houses are priced reasonably or even inexpensivately, do so!
I found the facts off a website that explains why it is better to own property, even a manufactored or mobile home vs. renting. I am not allowed to post a link, but you can search it on google. Owning a mobile home costs a third of what renting an apartment costs! There are many other reasons as I have reserched. If you do the reserch, you will find all those reasons too. Feel free to share your own opinions. I was never a fan of renting.
I think its a obvious fact that owning is better than renting... unfortunately not everyone has the means to do so! Just a thought!
I think its a obvious fact that owning is better than renting... unfortunately not everyone has the means to do so! Just a thought!
You can always relocate where the American dream of home ownership is affordable. In fact its many times cheaper to own a house elsewhere than its to rent in an expensive area like Florida and especially California!
People are chasing phantoms and trying to make one size fit all.
Mobile homes fit well in some situations. They actually appreciate it all depends.
The better deals will be either in a owner situation where they totally control the lot ownership and do a quality installation and keep it in good condition. In many areas, those appreciate over time.
The second situation is in parks where members are restricted, like by age. If those type parks are well run, values hold up well.
My sister has had a lot of experience both in Florida and Ohio living in those type parks. She swears by it. Gets excellent value for the money. The type lifestyle desired.
She just recently traded up to a bigger one in the same park. Made a nice profit on the sale. The point about storms is valid. In her park, the on site community center is built as a storm shelter. During high winds or really bad storms, people just go there, it is designed for sleep overs. Cooking, bathrooms, etc.
So, like most other things, you have to examine the entire deal. Mobile parks that are open to everyone and are easy to get in with few rules tend to be what gives them the reputations. The ones with far more restrictions tend to be far better. IMHO, they are best when no childern are permitted and tailored to folks that fit that type category. It is a type housing that can serve a need to special category type folks.
Theres a decent mobile park about 10 minutes from my parents house that ive considered and at $399/month it has one of the cheapest lot fees. But I have no reason to stay in Florida when I can work anywhere that has broadband internet. I can get a house for not much more than what mobile homes cost and I also get my own land without paying the lot fees. So in fact just moving out of Florida and getting a $50k house vs. staying in Florida and getting a $30k mobile is the better deal cause I save almost $5000 a year on lot rent plus I dont have to worry about hurricanes(they can demolish mobile homes easier than houses) I would stay in Florida and get a mobile home if I had a reason to stay in Florida such as I get a good high paying job there.
Theres a decent mobile park about 10 minutes from my parents house that ive considered and at $399/month it has one of the cheapest lot fees.
getting a $30k mobile is the better deal cause I save almost $5000 a year on lot rent plus
$399 a month is not cheap for a lot rent. Places in Ohio for like $200 some down in the $100 range. It is not what it appears. In most cases the lot rent substitutes for taxes. The park owner pays for the land taxes, the mobile owner pays very little. My sister pays something like $2400 a year in lot rent but only like $7 in taxes on the mobile. As she says, evens out. The lot rent also includes a number of services like garbage, tree removal, leaf removal, street sweeping, roadway repair, utilities services, etc. You can be buying a package, got to understand each situation.
You have to understand anything to do with real estate as a total picture instead of some precut formula. It is more about the intangibles. The better trailer parks tend to be very restrictive in what a owner can do in a public area, space or outside their dwelling. Including who can visit, reside, buy, parking restrictions, how you can change the exterior, up keep requirements, pets, etc. That may or may not fit a particular persons needs. In a number of parks your lifestyle will be defined by the rules.
If you focus too much on price, you will get into the typical trailer park with all its negative details as normally bellowed about in weekend myths. Got to be quite definitive in talking about what you expect in a mobile home setting. Like most things, there is no perfect solution for all the variables available.
In south Florida $399 a month is considered very good. My dad had called another park that was selling a nice mobile home for $16,900 and we were both shocked at the $640 lot rent(which will be $680 in 2007) That mobile home still hasnt sold and its been many months. Many people cant afford this much lot rent and the rich buy houses, not mobiles anyway.
There is no point in me buying a mobile home in Ohio when real houses can be had as cheap as $10k-$20k for a handyman special or $50k to $100k for a nice good condition house ready to move in. In south Florida with a lousy small old house at $150k to $200k, mobile homes and their lot rent is far cheaper than buying a house. In Ohio you save almost nothing. Mobile homes would be a popular and good alternative than buying the overpriced houses in south Florida. Most people just relocate where they can get a real house for $50k to $100k which is affordable to them and what houses should be worth(except in CA, HI, NYC, Palm Beach and a few other upper class states and cities)
Taxes on a $50k house would only be about $400 a year. This is far cheaper than lot rent. Yes theres some bad mobile parks, ive seen them here in south Florida. The yard was littered with garbage and rubble, the mobile homes were falling apart, the neighboor was questionable. The good parks are clean looking and the mobile homes look nice and the neighboor is friendly. Ive talked about mobile homes with others and few seem to be interested. Some rent all their money away on an apartment and have no money left to save on anything. Its a shame because if they had gotten a mobile home, they would have alot of money left over which they can save for retirement. I would live in a mobile home in a nice park if I found a good high paying job(if the job paid way, way more I might even be able to afford a real house! But thats wishful thinking, no company is gonna pay me 3 times more than they pay other employees) But I didnt and so am relocating to OH and will be self employeed and buy a nice big house for $50k
I wonder how others will afford a house if they stay in south Florida. Only the top paying jobs will do and it took them years to work their way up. Many are relocating for the reason.
I appologize if I sounded rude in my other post! It's just that my DH and I have tried over and over to try and afford a house and it just doesn't seem to work. We currently live in a mobile home (A very nice, big home that we only paid $12,000 for; sellers had it on the market for 4 years) and the lot rent is cheap (well cheap for Michigan anyway) only $370.00 There is no way we'd find a home that cheap anywhere near here ( average housing cost in Michigan is $225,000)
So yes we are gonna move out of state. DH's mom has cancer and we want to live here until she passes. Plus we need time to prepare our 3 kids for the move. They are little and this type of move will take time with 3 little ones.
If there was some way to move now, I'd do it in a heart beat!
My sister is moving up. Did it exactly right. Trading up in the Mobile field.
Figured out the neighborhood. Set the criterion. Targeted just a few other units, waited for the exact right one to come on the market. Actually got her first choice. Bang, jumped right on that Momma, within a few days. Had already figured out all the moves, got me to promise to give her money if she ran over. Moving on up to the East Side, err ...... is it North, well one of the two.
So she will wind up with one of the best units, a big double, just about brand new and it has been updated with a bunch of extras. That "Good Eye" must run in the family.
Still ain't heard what the net differential will be but I guess in the 10K range. Even sold her old one within a few weeks weeks being on the market. Nice lil profit.
So this weekend I have been tapped as part of the moving crew. (Who we kidding, probably the only crew )
So like I say lots of good deals in Ohio. I guess there are mobiles in new parks with lot rents around $125 but she likes the current park. A lot of this is common sense, plan things out, execute. Some people do it well, she sure did, and quick.
So I get a chance to be a Hands On Expert in the Mobile Housing Field (MHF). Guess I should qualify, as I will be over 25 miles away from home.
Maybe I can get my laundry done too.
Supposed to go to a "Hog Roast" for a big free chow down. Did I mention I seem to be working cheap too. Got to check in for that doggy bag. I will have the truck.
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It is like apples and beans
Plus we need time to prepare our 3 kids for the move. They are little and this type of move will take time with 3 little ones.
